United Nations report calls for meat eating reduction

A new report from the United Nations has put meat consumption at the head of factors that are causing a loss of global biodiversity.

According to 'Global Biodiversity Outlook 3', released on Monday: tackling biodiversity loss "involves issues such as consumption, public engagement and appropriate pricing and incentives (including the removal of perverse subsidies).

"You could reduce some of these drivers, for example, by encouraging more moderate, less wasteful – and more healthy – levels of meat consumption."

Launching the report, global manager Delfin Ganapin said: "We are reaching what’s called ‘tipping points’, where irreversible damage is going to be done to the planet unless we act now – affecting not just tropical species, but biodiversity that was closer to home, such as food crops and livestock."

Friends of the Earth's biodiversity campaigner Vicki Hird commented: "The new UN report confirms that we are experiencing the biggest mass extinction since the end of the dinosaurs – and that this is being caused by human behaviour, including the way we eat.

"The Government must act to protect the world's vital natural diversity – by helping us cut back on products that are driving the destruction of forests and other habitats.

"This means passing a new law to reduce the impact of the meat and dairy industry, scrapping biofuels targets and cutting waste."